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I U. TURNER. COUNTING MACHINE.

No. 66,269. Patented July 2, 1867.

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U. TURNER, OF VERSAILLES, KENTUCKY.

' Letters Patent No. 66,269, dated July 2, 1867.

IMPROVEMENT IN COUNTING MACHINES.

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TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, U. TURNER, of Versailles, in the county of Woodford, and State of Kentucky, have invented new and useful improvements in Counting Machines; and do hereby declare the following to be a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is an elevation of my instrument.

Figure 2 is a section on the line X X of fig. 1; and

Figure 3 is a section on the line XI XI of fig. 2, showing the internal arrangement of the parts.

In all the figures like parts are indicated by the same letters of reference.

The object of my invention is to facilitate the adding up of long columns of figures, by noting the tens as they successively accrue, so that they may be dropped, as fast as they occur, from the mental operation, the instrument alone noting them, so that in adding a column of any length, the mind never combines more than 18, and at the foot, the unit figure alone is in the mind, and you must look at the dial to ascertain the number of tens. The mind discards the tens as they occur, and only uses the excess.

By this mode there is no more mental labor in adding a column of 400 than one of 18; accuracy is secured, as mistakes seldom occur in adding 18; dispatch is secured, as the mind lags under the burden as the numbers increase.

In the drawings, A is a circular plate of any suitable material, having an arbor, a, projecting from its centre. Loose on the arbora as an axis, is the spur-gear B, having nearly the whole of its circumference divided eqnallyinto teeth, of any number deemed desirable. As a general thing, it will not be found necessary to go beyond forty or fifty. The undivided or blank portion of the wheel B may cover the space that would be occupied by two or three teeth, and has projecting from it a stud, b, which, by contact with a pin in the plate A, prevents the wheel from revolving beyond one revolution. The wheel B has a space between it and the plateA, in which lies the spring-coil 0, one end of which is fast to the arbor a, and the other end fast to the inside of the wheel, so that as this revolves the spring will be wound up. Attached to the wheel B, so as to revolve with it, is a dial, 1), dividedand numbered to correspond with the number of teeth in the wheel B. On the face of the projecting rim 0 of the plate A, which serves to protect the dial, is an index mark or score, 01, which is so situated that it shall point to the zero on the dial, when the stud b of the wheel B is against the pin that stops it, and the spring-coil is at its lowest degree of tension. A feed-finger, E, slides in the space between the dial 1) l and the plate A, upon the pin e, which passes through a slot in E into the plate A. The feed-finger takes into the teeth of the wheel B, when pressure is exerted upon its head E, which projects through and beyond the rim ofthe plate A, and causes it to revolve to the distance of a space between. two teeth. The spring F, serving the double purpose of lifting the feed-finger clear of the wheel, and, by pressure against its upper end, keeps its lower end in contact with the teeth of the wheel, so that it shall not fail to operate the wheel when pushed down. A spring detent or pawl, G, is furnished with an inclinedlatch, so as to allow the teeth of the wheel to pass down, when the latch takes into the teeth of the wheel, and prevents it from returning. The head of the detent G is extended up past the foot of the feed-finger E, so as to form a trigger, to be operated by the feed finger, when it is desirable to disengage the detent from the wheel, and let it return until it is stopped by the stud b. This is .efi'ected by slightly vibrating the feed-finger about the pin e, as a fulcrum, until its lower end comes in contact with the head of the detent G, and forces it out of engagement with the wheel.

The operation of this instrument'is as follows: The zero being at the score mark on the rim, the machine is held in the left hand, so that the head E of the-'fecd-finger shall be up, with the fore-finger'resting upon it. As the tens occur they are successively noted by pressing down the feed-finger, which causes the wheel and dial to rotate one tooth each time such pressure is given, until the foot of the column is reached, when both the number of the excess over the tens, and the number on the dial, now under the score mark, indicating the numbe: of tens, shall be set down. The head of the feed-finger is now, instead of being pressed down, drawn slightly to the left, so as to disengage the detent G, when the spring-coil C turns the wheel and dial back until zero is again under the score mark, and the instrument is ready for another column. A revolving dial is prefarable to an index traversing a stationary dial, for the reason that it is easier for the eye to visit the same spot,

as the score mark on the rim, in repetition, and the figures, will always present themselves in a proper upright position.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The wheel B, with its spring-coil G, and dial D, in combination with the feed-finger E and detent G, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The feed-finger E, spring F, detent G, wheel B, and coil 0, for reversing the dial D, and resetting it at zero, and without changing the position of the instrument or of the hand that holds it, substantially as herein shown and described U. TURNER.

Witnesses:

D. THORNTON, HENRY J. Gnonen. 

